When I was pregnant, I picked up a copy of Real Food for Mother and Baby by Nina Planck. I’m a big fan of hers, so I was excited to see what she had to say about pregnancy, breastfeeding and solids. Real Food for Mother and Baby covers your nutritional needs from fertility to baby’s first foods. I have read it twice, and then each section again as I am at that stage. I love this book because it’s not overwhelming, and it’s all about real, simple, unprocessed food.
When I started preparing Toddler Girl for solids, I was a bit overwhelmed by it all. Everyone was worried about allergies, what babies like to eat, and how much they should eat everyday. I figured that I would be making baby food and freezing it, and then thawing it and spoon-feeding her. But when Nina started her son on solids, she just gave him normal food. He especially liked lamb chops. I thought, you can do that?
The official term for it is Baby Led Weaning. Since solids aren’t recommended until 6 months of age, you can just skip purees altogether and start with finger foods. A 6 month old baby can usually sit up fairly well (Toddler Girl started in the Bumbo which is a fantastic baby seat), and can pick thing ups and chew on them (just try to stop them) so they might as well be sitting there chewing on food.
Now the great thing about this approach is that I didn’t have to make much for extra food. She didn’t eat everything we did (not much grains, no uncultured dairy), but she could usually eat something from every meal. We just stuck some stuff on the tray and let her go at it, leaving us to eat at the same time while dinner was still hot!
It didn’t matter if she slept through meals because no one was keeping track. And it didn’t matter how much she actually swallowed while she was getting the hang of it, because she was still breastfeeding on demand. Right off she ate more than I expected though, especially meat and peaches. She loooved the peaches.
The downside? It can be pretty gross, especially with messy food. She sat on about half of the food, and sometimes we just carried her in the Bumbo to the shower after a meal. We also got to watch her sometimes gag food out. But what’s a baby adventure without some gross?
If you’re interested it learning more about Baby Led Weaning, I would recommend reading Baby Led Weaning by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett to learn about how it works, but Real Food for Mother and Baby is a better resource for nutritional information. I’m pretty sure there was something in BLW about not giving babies much fat, which is so not true!
Toddler Girl is two now, and has always been a pretty good eater. She loves fruits and veggies and eats more meat than most toddlers I know. She still is a bit picky (two year olds have to assert their independence somehow, I guess), but she eats a good variety of foods and happily tries new things. I’m so glad we gave her the start on solids that we did, and I’m very excited to start baby led weaning with Wonder Baby in a couple months!
Have you or would you give baby led weaning a try?
Baby Led Weaning part 5 of 11
1. Baby-Led Weaning by Food2. BLW Gear Faves & Fails by Mrs. Stroller
3. BLW - The First Few Months by Mrs. Stroller
4. Getting Started With Baby Led Weaning by Mrs. Superhero
5. Baby Led Weaning by Mrs. Superhero
6. Getting Started with Solids, Purees, and Baby-led Weaning by Mrs. Bee
7. Time for Big-Boy Food by Mrs. Yoyo
8. My Modified Baby-Led Weaning Approach by Mrs. Pen
9. Little Tea Cup versus the spoon - part 2 - favourite first finger foods by Mrs. Tea
10. Starting Solids with Baby Led Weaning: A Conservative Approach by Mrs. Markers
11. Starting Baby Led Weaning by Mrs. Chipmunk
blogger / nectarine / 2010 posts
We just started last week with baby S! He’s got some super cute photos here showing how much he LOVES it:
http://www.ourlittlebeehive.com/2012/06/blw-baby-led-wednesday-foods-with.html
He really likes the peaches too. I find that a half a peach is the easiest for him to hold. It’s so much fun!
I recommend the BLW cookbook over the regular book. I have both and the cookbook covers the basics really well in the first 40ish pages. I wish I’d known before I bought both.
coconut / 8305 posts
I’m totally going to get these books!!!!! I had been leaning toward making my own baby food anyways and this sounds like an even better option! =)
squash / 13764 posts
One thing I always wondered about BLW is something you mentioned–allergies. How do you make sure that they’re not allergic to a food if you’re giving them an assortment right from the beginning? I really like the idea of BLW though, especially the less extra food to prepare part
clementine / 959 posts
Love Real Food for Mother and Baby!!
grapefruit / 4649 posts
I love that you mentioned the mess factor! It cracked me up to watch a friend try it for the first time, somehow she thought the baby was just going to eat everything? Her dogs however loved it! Diaper only and an empty sink are the way to go in the beginning!
I keep hearing good things about that author, I am going to check out her work at the library tomorrow, thanks for the recommendation!
GOLD / pear / 1845 posts
@Mrs. Stroller: he is so happy! and adorable. I’ll check out the cook book. I got the BLW book out of the library, so no real loss.
@runsyellowlites: Do it! So much more fun than purees!
@hilsy85: First off, I’m not a Dr, so do what you want with this advice: My Dr told us that if there’s no history of allergies in your family, there isn’t much risk. And in fact that they now recommend exposing them to allergens earlier rather than later. Just don’t give them a bunch of potential allergens in one meal?
@Cole: I loved her first book “Real Food”, so I was very excited that this book came out in time for my first pregnancy. I’m kind of a nutrition nerd.
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
Hehe so cute!
I puree’d foods for LO for the first couple of months. Planning on baby led weaning for #2 though! 
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts
I’m definitely going to try BLW.
grapefruit / 4110 posts
We did BLW with our son for the most part. He had reflux and intolerance to dairy and soy so we didn’t want him to hate food. So we let him play with his food. He loved it and I believe it has made him a better eater. We did end up using purees because he was low weight and needed to make sure he ate something. But he hated purees. It is pretty amazing to see a 9 month old chowing down on some bacon or eat a subway sandwich. I loved BLW and would recommend it to everyone.
pomegranate / 3503 posts
I ended up doing BLW with LO at 7 months because she is such a big grabber. She loves feeding herself. It does get very messy sometimes because she just picks up the food and squeezes it. But she’s a very good eater and eats almost everything we give her.
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
I love this, and will definitely give it a try instead of pureeing food. I love they eat what we eat so less work and more time spent at dinner as a family!
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
I was too scared to do this. We didn’t start real people food until like 9 months and LO still gagged a lot. But I must say, I love finger foods!
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
Interesting! My cousin in law does this with her daughter and I’ve never heard of it till she mentioned it. Not sure if I’m brave enough to try it though! We’ll see.
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
We did baby led weaning when our DD was about 7 months and even though it was messy and I felt horrible seeing all that wasted food sometimes, in the long run it’s made life so much easier! We can eat together with her, and at restaurants we’ll just give her a little of whatever we’re having. She is 17-months now and such a great eater… she’ll try anything and everything! Going to do it again with all future children.
persimmon / 1255 posts
I didn’t realize that we were practicing baby-led weaning until I read about it on HB about 6 months ago. Definitely the way to go !
pomelo / 5866 posts
We did this also, though a little slower since the gagging freaked me out. LO can eat a ton most times and barely anything once in awhile but she knows her stomach. I wouldn’t say she’s picky, but moody. She likes everything, when she is in the mood for it.
Since LO’s been a year old, one technique I like to use is to cut things like a french fry. Somehow, food in strips makes holding and biting more manageable. At first I wondered whether she would get the hang of properly using utensils in a timely manner, since she used her hands for so long but LO’s actually quite a pro, feeding herself using a regular sized spoon in a bowl of cheerios for breakfast at 16 months.